The axolotl, Mexico's water monster, is at risk of going extinct

The axolotl, a salamander-like creature native to Mexico, is thought to be disappearing.

Often referred too as the "Mexican walking fish" or "water monster," the axolotl’s natural habitat is Lake Xochimilco, a collection of lakes now deteriorating due to the continued growth of city areas and pollution, according to CBS News.

Like most creatures, the axolotl is able to live in confinement. However, these conditions are not the best for them as inbreeding may occur and other risks are present.

According to the Associated Press, scientists have been searching for the axolotl for at least three months and have been fruitless in their efforts.

“…On almost all the canals [the searches] have to be repeated, because now we are in the cold season, with lower temperatures, and that is when we ought to have more success with the axolotls, because it is when they breed,” Armando Tovar Garza, biologist of Mexico’s National Autonomous University, said.

As a critically endangered species, efforts to find axolotl in the wild are somewhat frantic as biologists continue to search.

Tovar Graza has stated that it is too early to declare the animal extinct and another three-month search for the creature will begin in February.